The armed men appeared to have tracked and ambushed the military patrol Saturday in the Zaccar forest some 250 kilometers west of the capital, Algiers, local security officials said, according to the AP. Nine soldiers died and seven others were wounded in the fighting, the officials said, while six Islamists were killed as army reinforcements arrived on the scene.

Last week, three soldiers were killed in the Biskra region southeast of Algiers after they were ambushed by gunmen.